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Critical reflection among school psychologists: an examination of content, cognitive style, and cognitive complexity

CRITICAL REFLECTION AMONG SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGISTS:
AN EXAMINATION OF CONTENT, COGNITIVE STYLE, AND COGNITIVE
COMPLEXITY
by
Micah Raphael Cohen
______________________________________________________________
A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC ROSSIER SCHOOL OF EDUCATION
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF EDUCATION
May 2010
Copyright 2010 Micah Raphael Cohen

This study examined two questions concerning the quality of critical reflections of school psychologists. The first question concerned whether novice (N = 9) and expert (N = 19) school psychologists differed in the quality of their critical reflections on practice. Participants were asked to describe an incident from their practice that left them feeling confused, upset, or wondering, then, through several prompts were guided through a reflective process. Quality was assessed using the four-level Hatton and Smith (1995) measure as a proxy for cognitive complexity. The between-group difference (M = 1.44 for novices vs. 1.84 for experts) was not statistically significant, probably as a function of the small number of novices in the sample. The obtained effect size (Cohen's d = .48), however, was what Cohen (1992) would characterize as medium size. The second purpose of the study was to examine whether particular cognitive variables (need for cognition, measured by the Need for Cognition Scales (Cacioppo, Petty, & Kao, 1984); openness to experience and neuroticism [as a measure of worrying]; (John & Srivastava, 1999) predicted reflection quality. When those variables were used in hierarchical multiple regression, they were not statistically significant as predictors of cognitive complexity.

CRITICAL REFLECTION AMONG SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGISTS:
AN EXAMINATION OF CONTENT, COGNITIVE STYLE, AND COGNITIVE
COMPLEXITY
by
Micah Raphael Cohen
______________________________________________________________
A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC ROSSIER SCHOOL OF EDUCATION
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF EDUCATION
May 2010
Copyright 2010 Micah Raphael Cohen